Tag Archives: cable

Under the Cowl – Work Goes On

With a bit of study and suitable periods of procrastination, I was able to rework the newer of the cabin heat shroud parts to fit the muffler. Knowledge and experience gleaned from my work with the heat valve duct was transferred to the outlet duct for the muffler shroud.

I got a start on the oil hoses and fittings. I’ve elected not to use any of the hose and a number of the fittings supplied with the FFW kit for the oil system. Rather than struggle with a vice to clamp fittings and attempting to push the hose onto the barbs – by hand – I picked up a Koul Tool. Not cheap, but it works ever so nicely – if, that is, your 90 and 45 degree fittings have a shoulder. Some of the FFW kit fittings don’t have a shoulder. I’ve replaced those with Aeroquip AQP AN8 fittings. I’ve also gone with matching high temp Aeroquip oil hose. All very nice stuff. Each hose I’m making has swivel fittings at both ends to make an entire system of modular components. Admittedly, I’ve deviated slightly from the plans and supplied parts here, but in a good way. I’m building as experimental in the USA, so I can tweak some things without a big hassle.

Now seemed like a good time to get the radiator and oil cooler secured to the lower cowl with the factory-supplied Sling 2-specific brackets. I’m using Camlocs instead of the kit-supplied Dzus fittings. They’re just better.

Cowl fitting continues, this time with a minimal cutout to clear the exhaust pipe. Eventually, I’ll be bonding reflective fiberglass heat shield to the inside of the cowling where needed.

VS – Trial Fit

One things leads to another. A question about the factory-installed rudder cables got me started down the road of test-fitting the vertical stabilizer. I was very pleased to find that it was easy to do and the fit appears to be excellent.

I hadn’t really expected to do this step just now. But, in order to evaluate much about the rudder cables, the entire control mechanism for the rudder and steerable nose-wheel needs to in place and adjusted. I learned this during a customer support exchange with Sling Aircraft’s Jean d’Assonville. I’d called him because I was concerned that the rudder cables may have been installed improperly during factory the quick-build of my fuselage. Jean assured me that it was very unlikely that the cables were wrong.

I was wondering because the KAI talks about one cable being slightly longer than the other. Somehow they seemed to be the other way around. Jean said that the only way to properly evaluate the setup would be to assemble everything. It only takes 15 minutes, he tells me! LOL. But, he really meant it!

It’s going to take me hours and hours, over days and days, to get the entire rudder control mechanism in place. That’s not only because I’m slow and plodding, but also because I’m not ready to install the nose-wheel yet. It’ll all just have to wait until I get the avionics rack, LRU’s and harness in place while the wheels are off and the fuselage is low and as easily accessible as it can be.

So then. I still don’t know for certain that the rudder cables are installed properly. But, I did get inspired to get the VS out from storage in the house and get it fitted on the fuselage. Technically, that’s progress! The nice fit between the fuselage and vertical stabilizer is satisfying too.